Holding the Lakers to just ninety points at home was an impressive accomplishment -- and so was the offensive balance the Nuggets exhibited. Danilo Gallinari's stroke has been ultra-erractic since he came to Colorado. But when he's on, he can be a fearsome threat, as the 22 points he registered yesterday proves. And while Kenyon Martin's defensive attributes have drawn plenty of positive comments of late, he hasn't exactly been a major scoring threat -- until yesterday, when he tallied eighteen points, with six coming during close-out time.
In all likelihood, the Nuggets will be matched up against the Oklahoma City Thunder when the second season gets underway -- and there's no doubt Kevin Durant and his fellows are a squad on the rise. Moreover, they'll have home court advantage, which has traditionally doomed the Nuggets during the Melo era. But what's happened since then has confounded plenty of so-called experts, including ESPN Radio's Jason Smith, who predicted in the immediate aftermath of the trade that Denver would miss the playoffs -- too many moving pieces, he said.
Yeah, and they're all moving in the right direction, clinching a post-season spot with their victory yesterday. Count them out at your peril.
Look below to see a clip of ESPN analyst Mark Jackson discussing the Nuggets win, and its potential repercussions for the Lakers.
More from our Sports archive: "Carmelo Anthony's house for sale: Take a photo tour of current (and future?) Nuggets' mansion."
